The Year of Living like Jesus by Ed Dobson

I don't think I would have read The Year of Living Like Jesus unless it was given to me.

Ed Dobson decided to attempt to live like Jesus for an entire year. He would grow a beard, eat kosher, and anything else a Jewish person alive during Jesus' time would do.

This book is a type of journal where you read Dobson's entries. Later on he gives the daily entries up for more book-like segments on his reflections and experiences.

Dobson drinks beer and discusses God with atheists and shares his faith with people from all walks of life.

You'll discover just how difficult following Jesus to the letter can be.

I think the biggest to-do about this experience was the fact that he voted for President Obama. He notes how much flak he took when that was made public.

And, in his defense, Ed Dobson loves to go against the grain.


This book was provided for review by Zondervan Publishing.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

I'm never too keen on animated films. Especially the more recent ones. But Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is laugh-out-loud hilarious.

At least for the first half of the movie.

Bill Hader is the voice of Flint, an inventor who wants to help feed his town anything but sardines. So he invents a machine that will cause it to rain any type of food he asks.

Anna Faris is the voice of Sam, a television reporter seeking her big break. She's on the site for when the gizmo begins and the sky begins raining food.

The townspeople are exited for the new choices and Flint is the new celebrity, but the only person he wants recognition from is his father, Tim (voiced by James Caan) who doesn't like technology and wants things to go back to the way things were.

As expected, things begin to go haywire and the food begins to mutate. It's up to Flint and Sam to fly up to the clouds and stop the food from falling.

As I said, the first half of the film is hilarious. Like the small jokes found in Horton Hears a Who, you'll need to be quick to catch some of the jokes behind the main action.

I laughed out loud 'till I cried during the snowball fight with the ice cream. Flint had never had a snowball fight so he starts to pelt as many people as he can with ice cream balls.

Last through the beginning of the film and you can just survive to the end.

In Good Company

I was looking for a good clean comedy to watch and found In Good Company.

Starring Dennis Quaid as Dan, a Salesman for a sport's magazine, Topher Grace as Carter, the 26 year old who comes in as Dan's new boss, and Scarlett Johansson as Alex, Dan's daughter and Carter's new girlfriend.

The biggest bright spot of this film is the comedy. I'm assuming most critics panned this film (it came out in 2004) because the comedy is clean and not based on college, stoner jokes.

Carter is your typical career-oriented male whose marriage has just ended. He is brought into the Sales Department as head honcho and tasked with firing a larger number of the sales team. Even though Dan (Quaid) makes the most money, Carter decides to keep him on as wingman.

It's your Obi Wan-teaching-Luke plot with the twist of the young boss dating the daughter.

Topher Grace does a great job in this role, much like any role he plays. And Dennis Quaid should remember how he can actually make wise movie decisions (like this one) without having to act in the poor direct-to-dvd movies.(Horsemen)

The only thing I have to say about Scarlett Johansson, is my amazement at how low her voice is!

In Good Company does have some foul language in it but all in all, this is a fun, decent film to rent.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

It there any question as to why this book was a Best Seller? Pride and Prejudice and Zombies takes the literary work of Jane Austen and makes it accessible to the late-night horror fan.

Unfortunately, they kept much of Austen's writing style in this version so the plot drags and I was pushing myself to continue reading.

My thought process looked like this: "Just a few more pages and a zombie has to appear and gnaw on some appendage."

Sorta sick once I look back on it.

Sadly, I did not enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the prequel.

The story drops you in the town of Meryton and the zombies have been walking around for some time. The Bennet sisters are quite fluent in dispatching the undead along with handling the sophomoric advances of men like Mr Darcy.

Bottom-line: it keeps the social commentary aspects of Austen while adding gruesome details.

The pictures are quite vivid.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

How little things can make a big difference is the basis for Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point.

The title refers to that moment when an idea or behavior tips over and catches the attention of people all over the country. It can refer to an illness epidemic, a fashion trend, or even crime rate.

Gladwell points out a number of factors that contribute to The Tipping Point: first being The Law of the Few.

Here we have 3 types of people - Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Each have a role to play in getting the word out on a product or idea. Connectors and Salesmen seem easy to understand; Mavens will be a source of knowledge and try to give you what you need.

Next you have The Stickiness Factor. This is where you create something that people enjoy and will come back to over and over again. This could be a restaurant, shoes, or a television show.

Next is The Power of Context and here Gladwell points to New York City and the subway crime rate and how it was lowered.

The Tipping Point is an interesting read for social case studies and people interested in sales. Included in this book is the idea of why 150 is the magic number and why people tend to mimic the actions of others.

While not an attention grabber, this book gives food for thought on a boring day.

Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren continues his journey of promoting the story of Jesus into the post-modern world.

With Everything Must Change, McLaren attempts to prove that Jesus would be a promoter of Social Justice.

I have to say, this book was hard to read. Not because I didn't agree with everything Brian wrote, but that he used the words "story" and "system" too frequently. This idea that certain words are key to post-modern readers is silly.

Brian claims we suffer from a suicidal system that contains 3 interlocking systems: The Security System, The Prosperity System and The Equity System.

See how you can get sick of the repetition?


According to McLaren and his Emergent views, Jesus and people of faith must move beyond "hot button" topics like global warming and abortion. We need to get our nations to spend less on weapons and more on peace-making.

Some people would accuse McLaren as an Obama-socialist hidden in the guise of religion. And he would respond that it's beyond that; the way of following Jesus is more than being dubbed a Capitalist or Communist or Socialist. Those are all different sides to the same coin. Jesus offers us a new coin, as it were.

The book is long. And the repetitions almost destroy an interesting journey through putting our faith into practice. And organizing our religion.

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is incredibly long. This along with some intense scenes left me with a very bad taste in my mouth.

I'll tell you what I thought of as this movie dragged on and on. Remember the Robin Williams movie Bicentennial Man?

That's what it felt like I was watching. You follow this character from boyhood to adulthood. Near the end, once he adopted his step-whatever, I thought we'd continue and watch this new boy grow up.

For heaven's sake, enough with the long, boring movies already.

The actual film is interesting. Dealing with what it's like to live in Afghanistan before and after the Russians invaded and the rise of the Taliban, you get a very raw sense of how horrible it must have been for those living there.

I don't recommend this movie unless you loved the book and enjoy long, drawn out films.